ACF developed the online Consumption Atlas website in 2007 to complement the research paper, â€˜Consuming Australia’, conducted in partnership with the University of Sydney. This report described and analysed the main environmental impacts of consumption in Australia. Food is a key area that emerged from this study, considering the household consumption of interrelated factors such as water, land and energy use.

The online Consumption Atlas encourages individuals to personalise their consumption by locating where they live on the map and choosing an indicator (greenhouse gas emissions, water use or eco-footprint) to discover their local consumption rate showing them how they compare nationally. Methods are offered to help people reduce their overall consumption.

Most importantly, this site untangles complex interdependencies of material flows to help people understand the true implications of their personal consumption.

This study explores the future of the Victorian food and farming system in a rapidly changing and more demanding world, focusing on the period between now and 2020. It explores ideas and tries to anticipate and imagine the sorts of activities and investments that will be needed if Victoria is to equip its food and farming system to produce more healthy foods, more sustainably, in a much more difficult climate, while consuming less water, nutrients and energy. In contemplating the future, we are in a mental dance between fate and desire. We know that â€˜whats coming at us will generate all sorts of possibilities and constraints. For the Victorian food system, such macro forces include the environmental, human health and policy drivers discussed below, and the basket of forces and trends that are captured under globalisation; including market forces and the progress of technology. NB This file is a large (7MB) PDF.

Green gold rush: How ambitious environmental policy can make Australia a leader in the race for green jobsAustralian Conservation Foundation and Australian Council of Trade Unions Posted: 30-10-2008

Australia could become a world leader in creating â€˜green industries generating up to a million green collar jobs by 2030 and multi-billion dollar export opportunities in green technology, according to this report from ACF and ACTU.

The environmental not-for-profit, Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), has recently released the Consumption Atlas, a new interactive online tool that reveals that “people living in Australias wealthiest metropolitan areas are responsible for the countrys highest household greenhouse pollution based on their levels of consumption of goods and services.”

ACFs Consumption Atlas enables Australians to view the greenhouse pollution created by households in their suburb. The Atlas shows that the more things people buy, the greater their contribution to climate change. ACF is encouraging householders to be smarter with how they spend their money, and consider the impact of their purchasing behaviour on the environment.Read the rest of this entry »